A Little Taste of A Possible Future
by Fal Catrecon
Summary: Lee has started his life towards a teacher, since he can't be a full ninja. He found a new friend among the teacher ranks in Iruka. Slight AU.
1. Part One

Okay, another challenge from Akima/Mika, but this was a little more well written. ^.^  
  
Oh ya, I don't own Naruto, though I may have the outfits... ^.^  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Iruka was sitting quietly, trying to finish grading papers for tomorrow. He started to zone, getting quite bored with the whole thing.  
  
A familiar bowl-cut peeked around the corner. "Iruka-sensei?"  
  
Iruka snapped out of his daydream. "Yes Lee-kun?"  
  
"Do you need any help with your paperwork?" Lee looked hopeful.  
  
"Actually, I do." Iruka shoved part of his stack over towards Lee.  
  
"Woah, that's a lot." Lee none-the-less sat down and started on the stack.  
  
Iruka was grateful for the help. Lee had slowed down a little since he had been injured. Iruka remembered how pitiful he looked. With the loss of his movement, he seemed to have lost a reason to continue. Iruka had offered up the idea for him to train as a teacher to give him an option, but Lee seemed to grab a hold of it as if it was his only choice.  
  
It had been a few years, and Lee was fitting into his niche wonderfully. He had opted for a black version of the green body suit, and black shoes to match, but he looked none the different from before except being taller. He was sixteen while Iruka himself had hit twenty-nine.  
  
It had almost been a ritual for the past few years. Lee would help Gai teach the taijitsu, then come and help Iruka with paperwork. Sometimes Iruka didn't have any, so they would talk or play Lee's favorite new pastime, Go.  
  
Lee was pleasant to talk to, and even when not talking he was pleasant to be with. The paperwork went so much faster for Iruka with Lee helping.  
  
"How are you and Sakura doing?" Iruka glanced up at Lee.  
  
Lee blushed slightly. "We broke up. We didn't get along as well as I thought we would."  
  
"You don't seem very broke up about it."  
  
"Well, I kinda like someone else anyway." Lee blushed again.  
  
"Ah." Iruka was glancing between Lee and the paperwork, trying to multi-task.  
  
Lee snickered. "I think you mis-marked that last one."  
  
Iruka looked down at the paper. "So I did." And corrected what he wrote.  
  
"Here, I'll do more since I'm done with this stack." Lee took some of Iruka's stack and started working on it.  
  
"Thank you. You're getting faster at this."  
  
"It's the left, not my right that got damaged." Lee's grin was a little sad.  
  
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned it." Iruka looked down at his paperwork.  
  
"No, it's alright." Lee lightly touched Iruka's shoulder. "It's been awhile, I should be used to it."  
  
Iruka smiled. "Ya... Are you done? I finished what you had left me."  
  
"Last paper...there." Lee handed his stack to Iruka who piled them all on his desk.  
  
Iruka stood up. "Would you like to have dinner with me?"  
  
Lee looked up and grinned. "I'd love to! Where to?"  
  
"What would you like to eat? Something other than ramen. I ate lunch with Naruto." Iruka shrugged sheepishly.  
  
"Hmmm... any place with good lemon chicken?" Lee looked up at Iruka.  
  
Iruka thought. "There is this one place, but I don't remember the name..."  
  
"Do you remember where it is?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"Well then the name doesn't matter." Lee grinned.  
  
"True, but it's nice to know. Well, lets go!" Iruka walked out the door with Lee following close behind.  
  
"This is it." Iruka pointed out a small, homely shop with the name Keiniku. "I go here occasionally for a snack on the weekends. My apartment is just across the street." Iruka gestured towards an apartment complex nearby.  
  
"It's kinda small..." Lee eyed the shop.  
  
"Ya, but it has good food. Come on." Iruka walked up and ordered himself some sesame chicken and got Lee his lemon chicken. He walked back over and handed Lee his food. "Let's go eat in my apartment."  
  
Lee blushed slightly. "Sure."  
  
"Great. We can play some Go afterwards. I used to play go with Shikamaru or Asuma, but both of them beat the crap out of me." Iruka unlocked his door. "Come on in."  
  
Lee followed Iruka in, looking around at the simple, but lived-in look the place had.  
  
Iruka gestured to the kitchen table. "Come, sit." What do you want to drink?"  
  
Lee sat. "Water would be fine."  
  
Iruka was looking through the fridge. "Just water? I have tea, white grape juice, apple juice, Cream Soda, Root Beer, Ginger Ale... Hmmm, when did I get Tab?"  
  
Lee grinned. "Actually, I'll have that Tab."  
  
"Alrighty then." Iruka tossed Lee the Tab and got himself a Cream Soda.  
  
They settled down and began to eat. Iruka got the conversation going. "How's your teaching with Gai going?"  
  
"The kids are great! But Gai-sensei..." Lee sighed. "He coddles me 'cause of my arm and leg. It gets so annoying.'  
  
Iruka smiled. "Well, it shows he cares."  
  
"I guess... I wouldn't mind helping you, if you don't mind..." Lee looked kind of shyly at Iruka.  
  
"It would be nice to have help, but I've never had a help in all my years of teaching."  
  
"Neither had Gai-sensei."  
  
"True, but there's not much you could do in my class. I teach basics." Iruka thought for a moment. "Though... with the kids practicing the projectile weapons it would be nice to have someone to help. I'm going to be teaching that soon."  
  
"can I help? Oh please can I help?" Lee begged.  
  
Iruka laughed. "Sure, sure. Just check with Gai about those days. I'll be starting that next week."  
  
"Great!" Some of Lee's old energy seemed to come back.  
  
Iruka smiled at the enthusiasm. He stood up. "You done eating?"  
  
Lee paused in his celebrating. "Oh yeah." He blushed. "Here, let me get it." He took the styrofoam containers and stood up. "Oh wait, where's your trash can?"  
  
Iruka laughed, taking the containers and putting them in the trash can at the end of the counter.  
  
"Oh..." Lee looked sheepish. "Sorry."  
  
Iruka laughed lightly. "It's okay. You want to play some Go?"  
  
"Sure." Lee followed Iruka to the living room where he pulled out a Go board. They played a few games, chit-chating during them.  
  
Lee glanced up at the clock. "Oh man, it's late."  
  
Iruka turned around to look. "You're right, and we both have to work tomorrow. If you want a place to crash, you're welcome to my couch." Iruka stood up.  
  
"That would be great, thank you." Lee stood and slightly bowed in thanks.  
  
"It's alright, I offered. Here." Iruka tossed a blanket and pillow at Lee. "Use these. Do you need any sleeping clothes?"  
  
"No, I'm fine. Thank you again." Lee set up the couch for himself.  
  
"Well, if you need anything, my room is just down the hall." Iruka headed to his bedroom, and they both settled down to sleep. 


	2. Part Two

Ch. 2 ^.^ All I'm doing with this is just writing it off the top of my head... It seems to be going well. I dunno if it will be an Iruka/Lee, but Lee seems to at least want to be a very good friend... O.o I don't ask how my tortured little mind works.  
  
Oh ya, Though no matter how much I wish it, Naruto isn't mind. It'd be screwed up anyway... ^.^  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Lee woke to the smell of breakfast being cooked. He got up and walked to the kitchen when Iruka was making scrambled eggs and bacon.  
  
"You're awake! Good, you can help me. Could you toast these?" Iruka handed Lee some slices of bread. "The toaster is over there." He pointed it out on the cluttered counter.  
  
Lee nodded, still slightly sleep-grogged, and made the toast.  
  
"Lee-kun, when that's done, could you put it on the table and get the butter and jam out? Those are in the fridge door." Iruka asked while still cooking the eggs and bacon.  
  
Lee put the things on the table just as Iruka finished making breakfast. Lee goggled at the amount. "You made a lot!"  
  
"Naruto usually eats breakfast with me. He should be showing up soon, as a matter of fact. You want coffee, milk, or juice?" Iruka asked while pouring himself some coffee.  
  
"Ummm... coffee with milk would be nice."  
  
"Okay." Iruka poured Lee his coffee with milk and handed it to him. "Here you go."  
  
"Thank you." Lee took a sip just as the doorbell rang.  
  
"That's probably Naruto, hold on a sec." Iruka opened the door to Naruto and... "Sasuke?"  
  
Naruto grinned. "I convinced him to come eat breakfast with us!"  
  
Sasuke grunted. "I can talk for myself, baka."  
  
Naruto shrugged and came in, noticing the pillow and blanket. "Who stayed over?"  
  
Sasuke had come in, walking past Naruto and into the kitchen. He nodded hello to Lee, who Naruto hadn't noticed yet, and poured himself some coffee.  
  
Iruka gestured to the kitchen. "Lee did."  
  
"Really?" Naruto bounced into the kitchen. "Hey Lee!"  
  
"Hello Naruto-kun." Lee greeted while Naruto was getting himself milk and raiding the fridge for chocolate syrup.  
  
Iruka followed and put the eggs and bacon on the table. "Breakfast is served."  
  
All four of the ninjas made short work of Iruka's breakfast.  
  
"as great as always, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto crowed over his empty plate. Sasuke nodded his agreement.  
  
"I really liked it, thank you." Lee smiled in complement.  
  
"Oh, it's not much trouble. I cook in bulk for Naruto's appetite anyway." Iruka smirked as Sasuke snickered.  
  
"Hey! And stop laughing!" Naruto turned and punched Sasuke in the shoulder. Sasuke punched back. "oww... that hurt." Naruto pouted.  
  
"It was supposed to." Sasuke smirked.  
  
"I wonder why I invited you at all." He stuck out his tongue.  
  
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, causing Naruto to immediately retract his tongue.  
  
Iruka sighed. "Naruto, that attitude of yours is going to land you in trouble after trouble."  
  
"What's wrong with my attitude?"  
  
"A lot." Sasuke replied.  
  
"Aw man, Sasuke..." Naruto pouted.  
  
Iruka slightly smiled. "You can come eat breakfast with us more often if you want, Sasuke. You too Lee."  
  
Lee looked up. "Thank you for the offer. I just might take you up on it."  
  
"You're always welcome." Iruka smiled.  
  
Naruto snickered. "Come on Sasuke, we'll be late."  
  
"When did you ever care if we were late?"  
  
"Just come on!" Naruto dragged Sasuke out of Iruka's apartment.  
  
Iruka and Lee traded confused glances. Iruka shrugged. "I don't know." He glanced at the clock. "It's close to the time that I leave. You ready?"  
  
"Not quite yet." Lee walked back to the living room and put on what he took off for bed.  
  
Iruka followed and watched. "Now?"  
  
"Now I am. Are you always impatient first thing in the morning?" Lee followed Iruka to the door.  
  
"I just don't like being late."  
  
Lee raised an eyebrow. "We have two hours until school starts, and it will take us ten minutes at a slow stroll."  
  
Iruka blushed a little. "It's a habit."  
  
They walked to the school in companionable silence. Each went their own way after arriving, both needing to prepare for their classes. 


	3. Part Three

Naruto isn't mine... too bad...  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A couple of days later Lee showed up in Iruka's classroom first thing in the morning.  
  
"Lee-kun! Don't you have class with Gai?" Iruka looked up in surprise.  
  
Lee pouted. "Aren't you starting projectiles today?"  
  
"Oh, yeah..." Iruka blushed. "I kinda forgot..."  
  
Lee smiled. "It's okay. What do you need me to do?"  
  
"Well, I already did the morning preparations, so we just wait for the kids."  
  
Lee blinked. "So we have an hour?"  
  
"Pretty much, yeah. You want to play some checkers today?"  
  
"Okay... but if you have so much time, why do you leave so early?"  
  
Iruka set up the checkerboard. "Well, I used to grade papers in the morning before you started to help."  
  
Lee started the game. "If I help enough, why do you still show up?"  
  
"Well, I don't know really..." Iruka thought for a moment. "I guess habit. Plus it gives me a little time to wake up before the kids come in."  
  
Lee sighed. "Do you really need that time?"  
  
"No, not really... But what else am I going to do for the two hours after Naruto leaves?"  
  
"I dunno... Take a nap?" Lee shrugged.  
  
"It's hard for me to take naps. I never really have... I usually read."  
  
"I guess you at least do something, though why don't you read at home?"  
  
"It feels kind of empty after Naruto leaves. I don't spend much time at home anyway."  
  
Lee looked up from the game. "Why not?"  
  
Iruka paused in his play. "I don't know. it just seems kind of empty, like I'm alone."  
  
"Then what do you do after our grading?"  
  
"I go eat somewhere, then walk around the village until it gets dark. I normally go straight to bed when I get back." Iruka shrugged. "It's what I do."  
  
Lee stared incredulously at Iruka.  
  
Iruka looked up. "It's your turn."  
  
"Oh, right. Sorry." Lee moved his next piece. "Don't you have people you spend evenings with?"  
  
"Occasionally I spend them with Naruto, but he has missions often. He also drags Sasuke around shopping and such." Iruka smiled. "It's kind of cute, actually."  
  
Lee looked at Iruka. "No one else?"  
  
"Not really.. Sometimes I go with the teachers out to drink, but I don't drink much."  
  
"Then... Then do you want to eat dinner sometimes with me?" Lee looked hopeful.  
  
"I wouldn't mind at all." Iruka smiled.  
  
"Great!" Lee grinned.  
  
Iruka watched Lee celebrate with a confused look on his face. Lee stopped when the first if the students came in.  
  
"Good morning Iruka-sensei!" The cheery little girl greeted, then looked suspiciously at Lee. "Who is he?"  
  
"This is Lee-kun. He's going to help me teach you projectile weaponry."  
  
Lee smiled and held out a hand. "Nice to meet you."  
  
The girl eyed his hand warily then cautiously shook it. "I'm Sao." She leaned in close. "Don't cross Iruka-sensei. He can get mean!"  
  
Lee smiled conspiratorially. "Thanks for the information."  
  
Sao grinned and skipped off to her seat. Most of the kids had shown up by now, and it was almost time for class to start.  
  
Iruka looked at Lee. "What did she say?"  
  
Lee smirked and mimicked Sao almost perfectly. "That you can get mean!"  
  
Iruka laughed, causing most of the class to go silent. Iruka rarely laughed out loud like that unless something really good had happened to him. A few of the kids started taking quietly together, occasionally glancing at Lee.  
  
Lee and Iruka traded quizzical glances before Iruka spoke up. "Class!" They quieted down. "This is Lee-kun. He will be helping me the next few days with teaching you the projectile weapons. Now, lets all go outside!" The class cheered and filed out the door.  
  
The class re-assembled outside at the throwing range set up for the beginners. Iruka started the class with the shuriken. "Now, the shuriken isn't too hard to throw, nor does it rarely bounce off of it's target, but you need to learn how to aim it properly." Iruka continued the lesson with demonstrations by both him and Lee, showing that there were different throwing styles. Iruka went on and demonstrated a few other styles, though not the one he used.  
  
"You can pick what you feel is the best one for you to try, though the styles are similar enough if you try for one type, you may end up doing another. Just try to aim for the center of the target. Lee and I will be walking around if you need help."  
  
The students started to throw the shuriken down range, most if not all missing their mark. Lee and Iruka started at opposite ends of the line, asking about styles and correcting where needed.  
  
By the end of the day, the students we getting better at aiming, and many of them could at least throw how they wanted to. Lee and Iruka felt a little tired, but happy with the work.  
  
"Alright class, you're done for today! Great job!" Iruka dismissed the students, sending them home. He turned to Lee. "Since we did outside work today, I don't have any papers to grade. What do you want to do?"  
  
"Ummm… Well it's too early for food, so maybe we could play a game or something?" Lee suggested.  
  
"Okay… What game?" Iruka started to walk back inside. Lee followed. "I got cards somewhere, and there's the checkers board, and the Go board… I can't remember if I have anything else though."  
  
Lee perked up at the mention of cards. "How about a simple game of war?"  
  
"That'll take a while."  
  
"Well, we got time, don't we?" Lee smiled.  
  
"That sounds fine to me, let's play." Iruka agreed and got out the cards.  
  
They played cards, talking a little, though mostly just sitting in contented silence. They took a break for food, then walked to Iruka's apartment to continue the game.  
  
Lee again looked at the clock. "It's about time for me to head back home."  
  
"We're not done with the game yet."  
  
"We can continue it tomorrow. I'll come over for breakfast too if you don't mind." Lee grinned.  
  
"I said you were always welcome." Iruka offered.  
  
Lee stood up and walked to the door. "Great. I'll see you tomorrow then."  
  
"Okay then." Iruka watched Lee walk off, and he started to feel his usual feeling of alone, but also a touch of missing Lee. He shook it off and went to bed, since he needed to get up in the morning to cook a little more. Especially since Naruto had been regularly bringing Sasuke to breakfast recently. The past days had been nice in his opinion. 


	4. Part Four

Part Four  
  
Okay, I just found out I'm writing an AU... but okay. . Good for Lee either way. He either is healed or he has Iruka. And yes, it is supposed to be an Iruka/Lee because Akima wanted me to. Remember, if you don't like the pairing, blame Akima! She challenged me to this pairing, along with that Gai/Sakura... . Don't ask. Oh well, I kinda challenged her to some too. .  
  
It was the first day after projectiles and Iruka's students were filing in. Sao was in the usual group, but paused and looked around confused.  
  
"Iruka-sensei, is Lee-kun okay?"  
  
"He's fine, why do you ask?"  
  
"He's not here."  
  
"He normally helps Gai-sensei. He was just helping me with the projectiles."  
  
"But... Lee-kun was cool." A few murmurs from the class seconded her. "Will he come back?"  
  
"Well, possibly. I would have to check." Iruka's class cheered. "Now calm down, it's time to start class." Iruka smiled with the prospect of having Lee in his class full time.  
  
Class ended and Lee came in as he normally did. Iruka offered part of the paperwork stack as he normally did. He also started small talk like he normally did.  
  
"How was your day back with Gai-sensei?"  
  
Lee sighed sadly, which wasn't what he normally did. "He seems to have done better without me. All I seem to do is slow the class down."  
  
Iruka caught one of Lee's hands that was reaching for the paperwork, and held it in concern. "Not al all. You helped my class wonderfully. It normally takes a few more days to teach projectiles because of all the students. Since it's basics I have a bigger class then the specialized students. In fact, my students miss you. They were wondering where you were this morning."  
  
Lee smiled slightly. "Really?" He moved his hand so it was holding Iruka's better. "Thank you."  
  
"If I don't ask this, I won't here the end of it from my students. Would you help me in my class more often?"  
  
Lee grinned. "I'd love to!" He squeezed Iruka's hand, then realized what he was doing. He blushed and started to pull away.  
  
Iruka kept hold of Lee's hand. "I believe you've made quite a few people happy helping me." Iruka smiled, then let go of Lee's hand, almost reluctantly. "Stupid paperwork. I wish I didn't have to take the time to do this."  
  
"Yeah..." Lee stared at his stack, deep in thought.  
  
"I'm sorry." Iruka whispered quietly.  
  
Lee looked up suddenly. "For what?"  
  
"I'm probably taking up you time."  
  
"Not at all. I'm like you, I don't like to go home. I never knew my parents, they died when I was one, so I'm kind of alone." Lee shyly offered his hand again.  
  
Iruka stared at Lee and took his hand. "You lost your parents in the same battle as I lost mine..."  
  
"Yeah... I'm kind of used to being alone. I used to take up the time training, but since it's much harder to train and Gai-sensei's coddling, I don't train nearly as often. I'm starting to feel a bit alone..." Lee brought his other hand up and lightly traced Iruka's scar, then pulled back, blushing. "Sorry."  
  
"It's okay, I don't mind at all." Iruka smiled gently.  
  
"How did you get that?" Lee lightly touched the scar again.  
  
"You'd be surprised. It's from falling out of a tree when I was about five. I somehow hit a rock without breaking my nose or my head, just the deep cut." Iruka lightly laughed.  
  
Lee smiled. "Do you know how many of your students who would love to know what happened?"  
  
"Yup, and I know how many would be disappointed too." Iruka grinned.  
  
Lee laughed. "Yeah. The theories have run from simple accidents to you trying to save your parents from the fox demon."  
  
"I was pulled off of the battlefield before I could even try."  
  
Lee's eyes widened in amazement. "Did you get to see it?"  
  
Iruka raised an eyebrow. "It was kind of big. Really hard to miss."  
  
Lee let the sarcasm pass by with his enthusiasm. "What did it look like?"  
  
"Ummm… like a giant fox with nine tails. I would have thought you'd of known that from all the stories floating around."  
  
"I don't pay attention to rumors. I mean, I've even once heard Naruto was the nine tails!" Lee laughed.  
  
"Yeah…" Iruka laughed nervously.  
  
"Do you have any other neat stories?" Lee looked intent.  
  
"Umm… I did protect Naruto from Mizuki." Iruka rubbed his back absently. "It left a pretty big scar there too…"  
  
"Sounds painful… Why did Mizuki-sensei do that? What I remember about him was a quiet, polite teacher." Lee looked concerned.  
  
"He wanted the power of the Kage scroll so much that he convinced Naruto to steal it for him."  
  
"Steal that? Why?"  
  
"Well, I would think you'd remember that it holds the strongest jitsus known, and most of them forbidden to anyone lower than anbu and hunter-nin, if not completely forbidden."  
  
"Oh yeah…" Lee smiled sheepishly, showing that he did forget.  
  
"Naruto forgot that too, so stole it because Mizuki told him that it would make him stronger. Naruto learned Kage Bunshin from that though, so I guess there was a good point to the whole thing."  
  
"So… did you beat Mizuki up?"  
  
"Umm… no… Naruto did." Iruka blushed. "I guess I did distract Mizuki well enough. The blood loss was getting to me by then."  
  
"Riiiiight… Don't hurt me!" Lee tried to physically block Iruka's glare.  
  
Iruka just shook his head. "You are strange."  
  
"You know you love me!" Lee batted his eyelashes.  
  
"Sure, sure. You know we still haven't done a sheet of paperwork, right?"  
  
Lee looked at his stack. "Oh yeah… paperwork."  
  
They both started on the paperwork, finishing it a little later, than normal. Then they ate at Keiniku like normal, and played random games, like normal, and talked until late, like normal. Lee opted to stay over, like normal, and crashed on the couch.  
  
Lee opened his eyes in the morning to a pair of blue ones and a shock of blond hair.  
  
"Ack!" Lee scooted back and sat up. "Don't do that!"  
  
Naruto snickered at Lee. "You should pay attention, even in sleep."  
  
Lee stuck out his tongue. "I didn't think I would be attacked at Iruka's house."  
  
Naruto was slightly surprised at the lack of the title, but brushed it off. "Food, now!"  
  
"Okay, I'm up. Food is good." Lee walked into the kitchen where Iruka had set out breakfast and Sasuke was already in a chair. Lee got himself coffee and sat down.  
  
"Food!" Naruto stared at Iruka, who was wasting his time just to annoy Naruto. He finally sat down, and they ate.  
  
"Oi, Lee!" Naruto talked around a mouthful of food. "You're almost always over here. Why don't you just move in?"  
  
Both Lee and Iruka blushed. "I wouldn't want to intrude on Iruka's time any more than I already have."  
  
Naruto laughed. "Riiiight. Whatever." He finished eating and watched Sasuke eat his meal at a slower pace. Naruto looked back up. "Did you think I was serious?"  
  
Lee blushed and stuttered. Naruto laughed and continued, interrupting any type of reply from Lee. "Of course you didn't!"  
  
"Of… of course." Lee blushed and was absorbed in his meal.  
  
Naruto raised an eyebrow, but went back to staring at Sasuke eating. "You're slow."  
  
Sasuke glared. "You eat to fast." He took his final bite. "Happy now?"  
  
Naruto grinned. "Sure! Let's get going!"  
  
"Fine, fine." Sasuke followed Naruto to the door.  
  
Iruka waved as the left, then turned to Lee. "You don't look so well."  
  
"I'm fine!" Lee blushed again.  
  
"You ready to help me today?"  
  
"Yep!… You're class really missed me?" Lee looked hopeful.  
  
"Really. Pretty much the whole class, myself included."  
  
"Yourself included?" Lee smiled with a faint blush still on his cheeks.  
  
You actually help me, and you're a close friend, if not my only one…" Iruka smiled back. "Now, we need to head to class. I don't think my, I mean, our class would appreciate us being late." Iruka stood up and started to pick up the dishes, but Lee stopped him.  
  
"Let me." Lee finished picking them up and washed them off in the sink.  
  
Iruka watched, surprised. "You don't have to do that."  
  
"I'm here often enough that I should help some." Lee grinned as he finished washing the dishes. "There. I really don't mind doing things around here to help."  
  
"You still don't have to."  
  
"I like helping. Now about 'our' class?" Lee lightly pushed Iruka towards the door.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going!" Iruka laughed as they both left to their class. 


End file.
